Lucas Torres, Ph.D.

Lucas Torres, Ph.D.Marquette University

Cramer Hall, 317B

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America(414) 288-5439lucas.torres@marquette.edu

Chair and Professor

Psychology

Dr. Torres research interests focus on issues of mental health disparities or the psychological difficulties experienced by members of underrepresented groups. He was recently awarded the Marquette University Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award and is a Faculty Diversity Fellow in the Office of the Provost and Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, Marquette University. He is also the co-Director of the Latina/o Well-being Research Initiative (LWRI).

Research Lab: Mental Health Disparities Research Lab

Education

Multicultural Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, Multicultural Research Institute, University of Notre Dame

Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University

Clinical Internship, Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology, Boston University Medical Center

Courses Taught

At the undergraduate level, Dr. Torres teaches Abnormal Psychology and General Psychology. At the graduate level, he teaches Adult Psychopathology and Multicultural Psychology.

Research Interests

My research interests focus on understanding the structural, socio-environmental, and individual factors that influence mental health disparities. With an emphasis on community-based approaches, this research seeks to identify the mechanisms that contribute to mental health problems, namely depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One line of research investigates the psychological consequences associated with culturally-specific stressors, such as ethnic discrimination, ethnic microaggression, and acculturative stress, and neighborhood-level factors including exposure to community violence and economic stress. Another avenue of study has been to identify the factors that reduce disparities or protect individuals from negative psychological outcomes. This work focuses on ethnic identity, cultural values, intercultural competence, resilience and thriving, social cohesion as key buffers to mental health outcomes.

Active Projects: 

Latina/o Well-being Research Initiative (LWRI)

Dr. Torres is the co-Director of LWRI, which seeks to develop equitable, mutually beneficial community-academic research partnerships with the goal of conducting innovative and impactful research within the Latinx community in Milwaukee. Our main objective is to make LWRI a major research hub that directly addresses the daily lives of Latinxs in Milwaukee in a way that brings systemic change and promotes healthy lifestyles. Projects include:

1. Salud Mental Milwaukee- Community needs assessment documenting the mental health of Latinx adults in Milwaukee.
2. COVID-19 Latinx Study – Examined the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of Latinx adults living in the Midwest region of the United States.

Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project (MTOP)

Dr. Torres is currently a co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) of MTOP which seeks to advance research and community prevention efforts pertaining to trauma and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), particularly among racial and ethnic minorities living in Milwaukee. MTOP includes interdisciplinary scholars partnering to further understand the social and biological factors that contribute to PTSD. Projects include:

1. Study of Trauma and Resilience (STAR) – Longitudinal study that examines the role of social stressors (e.g., exposure to community violence, racial discrimination) and biologic vulnerability (e.g., gene expression, allostatic load) as they contribute to PTSD among recently-injured Black American adults.
2. Dismantling Racism and InVigorating Equity (DRIVE) Together Study – Uses geospatial analyses with individual data to document risk and protective factors in the context of racial/ethnic discrimination among Black Americans living in Milwaukee

Selected Publications

*Driscoll, M. W. & Torres, L. (2022). Cultural Adaptation Profiles Among Mexican-Descent Latinxs Acculturation, Acculturative Stress, and Depression. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 28, 248-258.

Torres, L., *Pachicano, J., *Bird, C.M., & Edwards, L. M. (2022). Ethnic Discrimination, Social Cohesion, and Mental Health Among Latinx Adults. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 92, 51-57.

*Webb, E.K., * Bird, C.M., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Weis, C.N., Huggins, A.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Parisi, E.A., Miskovich, T., Bennett, K., Krukowski, J., Torres, L., & Larson, C.L. (2022). Racial Discrimination is Associated with Modified Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Salience Network Nodes in Traumatically Injured Adults. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, 5(1), e2144759. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.44759.

*Bird, C., Webb, E.K., Schramm, A. T., Torres, L., Larson, C., & deRoon-Cassini, T. A. (2021). Racial Discrimination is Associated with Acute Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Predicts Future PTSD in Trauma-Exposed Black American Adults. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34, 995-1004.

Torres, L., Magnus, B., & *Najar, N. (2021). Assessing the Psychometric Proprieties of the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (ATSPPH-SF) among Latino Adults. Assessment, 28, 211-224.

Torres, L., Reveles, A., *Mata-Greve, F., Schwartz, S., & Domenech Rodriguez, M. M. (2020). Reactions to witnessing ethnic microaggressions: An experimental study. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 39, 141-164.

*Mata-Greve, F., & Torres, L. (2020). Ethnic discrimination, sexism, and depression among Latinx women: The roles of anxiety sensitivity and expressive suppression. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 8, 317-331.

*Driscoll, M. W., & Torres, L. (2020). The protective roles of Latino intercultural competence and acculturation on acculturative stress and depression: A brief longitudinal study. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 8, 161-177.

Torres-Harding, S., Torres, L., & Yeo, E. (2020). Depression and perceived stress as mediators between microaggressions and somatic symptoms in college students of color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90, 125-135.

Torres, L., *Bird, C., & *Mata-Greve, F. (2020). Culture and ethnicity in the mental health of older adults. In N. Hantke, A. Etkin, & R. O’Hara (Eds.; pp. 23-35), Handbook on Mental Health and Aging, 3^rd Ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.